Maxim pledges $200M boost for U.S. chip making

LONDON – Analog and mixed-signal chip company Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) said it plans to spend $200 million to upgrade its U.S. wafer fabs in Beaverton, Ore.; Dallas and San Antonio, Texas; and San Jose. The investment also will create additional manufacturing jobs, Maxim said, without providing numbers.

The company said the multiyear investment is consistent with previously disclosed capital expenditure plans for Maxim's 2012 and 2013 fiscal years. The money would be used to upgrade manufacturing equipment, improve process technologies, convert to newer technology nodes and assimilate production from recently acquired companies, Maxim said.

Maxim employs 9,300 people worldwide of which approximately 1,000 work in manufacturing cleanrooms in its four U.S. fabs. Maxim said it expects to add manufacturing staff as expansions are completed and it ramps production.

"Maxim has an extremely talented workforce doing technology development in Silicon Valley and cost-competitive manufacturing in our U.S. wafer fabs, where we make about 50 percent of our products," Tunc Doluca, president and CEO of Maxim, said in a statement. "We are investing in our U.S. infrastructure to build intellectual property and enable a competitive edge."

Maxim has won recognition from local bodies in Beaverton and San Antonio for energy and water efficiency measures it has taken at its fabs.

I am interested as to what a "poor reputation in delivery" means.
Does it mean a reputation for long lead times but the parts get delivered?
Or hearsay that they fail to deliver parts on a promised schedule?
More importantly is the reality different to the reputation?
Is there any evidence out there?